I never know where or when I’m going to find inspiration – does any writer? Sometimes I go looking, or will it in my mind, but I seem to have the best luck when I leave the door wide open and welcome inspiration on its own terms. I’ve gotten into the habit of taking a photo and posting it every morning on my walk from my car to the building where I work. I see it as a transition from … Read More »
A few years ago, I got a call from International Thriller Writers about a panel of writers they were assembling for an event down Palm Beach way. ITW needed a talented writer to participate and fill out the bill alongside internationally renowned bestseller Karin Slaughter, author of the popular Will Trent series. I expected the next thing to be, did I know anyone available? But no, she asked if I could join them. So on the appointed day, I headed … Read More »
In 1988, I took my first, full-blown creative writing class at Valencia Community College in Orlando, Florida. Our teacher rushed into the room with a huge smile, muttered a brief hello, and launched into the session. “Let’s start with the basics. First, what is the writer’s sacred duty?” he asked, peering at students in the front. Bushy eyebrows bouncing up and down, he gripped the small brown podium. I panicked. I’d recently returned to college after more than a decade, … Read More »
Fiction or non-fiction, a time comes in every manuscript’s evolution when we, the writer, just want to know one thing. Is it working? Maybe we’re so far out to sea in a work that we can no longer see the shoreline. Perhaps we’ve sailed it harbor-to-harbor, maybe even twice, but still aren’t quite sure where the shoals lie. Or, the scariest possibility of all, there’s miles of smooth seas under the hull of our work and safe harbor in sight … Read More »
Do you feel overwhelmed as I often do by the swirl of writerly information? Where have you discovered sound writing advice? The best advice I ever received was NOT from a writer-focused resource. In tenth grade at James M. Bennett Sr. High, I joined our school’s first women’s track team and learned what it took to write. Mrs. Tucker, our physical education teacher, inspired enough of us wannabe female track stars to make up a real team. Heady with excitement, … Read More »
A core premise of the critique process is that we are making suggestions about the work, not evaluating the person who wrote it. Critiquing is already quite personal, in that we are telling a creative person that their creation has flaws. No one is eager to hear that. Add to that some critical remarks about the writer as a person and it becomes painful. It helps to avoid sentences that start with “you,” for two reasons. One, we aren’t supposed … Read More »